For someone who doesn’t watch football, let me put this into perspective. This happened on October 12, and we are still talking about it. Then #1 ranked Alabama (Ranked #4 currently) lost an action-packed game in College Station to an unranked Texas A&M 41-38. Texas A&M Quarterback Zach Calzada had his best game of his career by far, throwing for 285 yards and adding 3 touchdowns through the air, while only adding one interception. In the receiving game, Wide Receiver Ainias Smith caught two touchdowns, Tight End Jalen Wydermyer caught a touchdown, and no one else was very notable for Texas A&M on the receiving game. Following a blocked punt that got returned for a touchdown, Running Back Devon Achane returned a kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown, immediately answering the blocked punt. 

For the Alabama Statlines, Quarterback Bryce Young, on the surface, played an excellent game, throwing for 369 Yards and 3 touchdowns, with only one interception. However, he threw many inaccurate passes to wide open receivers, and one of his Touchdown passes happened because the Texas A&M defense left a Wide Receiver uncovered in the red zone. Brian Robinson had a truly excellent game, gaining 147 Yards on 6.1(!) yards per carry. Wide Receiver Jameson Williams had a whale of a time, catching 10 passes for 146 yards, adding 2 touchdowns to boot. Alabama’s offensive line was rather porous, allowing 4 sacks, and was a major reason for their defeat. Alabama’s defense was comparable to Swiss cheese, as they failed to notch a sack and allowed 41 points against them. Kicker Will Reichard was great, going 3-3 on Field Goal attempts and also making all of his PATs, on the other side, Punter James Burnip had a bad night, only averaging 35 yards per punt on 4 attempts.

This loss was an embarrassment for Alabama, and it broke several lengthy streaks Alabama possessed. First of all, Alabama had a 100 game winning streak against unranked teams, which was broken. Before this game, Nick Saban was 24-0 against former assistants. Now he is 24-1. It was also Alabama’s first loss since the 2019 Iron Bowl. 

The Alabama fanbase was sent into a frenzy of despair following Seth Small’s game winning Field Goal, for example, Elizabeth Riley (Freshman), when asked on her thoughts of the game, stated, “I was shocked and I couldn’t believe how they played.” Also, Bella Wendling (Junior), gave this response, “I think it helped humble Alabama, which is a good thing. They were getting too entitled.” 

Whether you care about football or not, this was an earth-shattering loss that has changed the entire College Football landscape, and this loss will be remembered as one of the most embarrassing by Alabama, for many years to come. Alabama plays Tennessee this Saturday, a game they will likely win.